The God-Shaped Hole in the Human Soul
Explores the concept of a "God-shaped hole" in the human soul, emphasizing the spiritual quest for fulfillment, the nature of divine presence, and insights from historical thinkers like Pascal and Augustine.
library.iusb.eduThe longing that Augustine describes is less like curiosity and more like hunger—less like an intellectual puzzle to be solved and more like a craving for sustenance (see Ps. 42:1–2).
God made us for himself as his images in the Garden-temple in Eden (Gen 1–2). God’s presence gives life and purpose in Eden, so we should not wonder that “our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Him.”
Though we don’t realize it at the time, when habitual senses of God do disappear in the process of the dark night, it is surely because it is time for us to relinquish our attachment to them. We have made an idol our images and feelings of God, giving them more importance than the true God they represent.
the Passion asks us to find Jesus in the midst of loneliness, heartache, pain, and exhaustion as they occur in our own lives. We are called to seek God in all these very human things, these broken places and vacant rooms where we think God is not present.
For Augustine, we are made for joy. Joy is another name for the rest we find when we give ourselves over to the One who, for the joy that was set before him, gave himself for us. We find joy when we look for the satisfaction of our hungers in the Triune God who will never leave us or forsake us, when we find our enjoyment in an immortal God whose l
... See moreGod has created us for himself and our hearts are designed to find their end in him, yet many spend their days restlessly craving rival gods, frenetically pursuing rival kingdoms.